Work rotating apparatus



Feb.26, 1935. v. J. CHAPMAN WORK ROTATING APPARATUS Filed July 1, 1933 W /J' F '1 "LJ I" InvenEoP VePni J. Cha man 5 His Attowneg.

Patented Feb. 26, 1935 it 7 1,992,812

1,992,812 V WORK ROTATING APPARATUS Verni J. Chapman, Schenectady, N. Y., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York i i i Application July 1, 1933, Serial No. 678,646

y y y "8 Claims. (CL 214-1) 7 My invention relates work rotating'appara- It will be noted that the part of the rope wound tus particularly adapted for rotating pipe sections about the :work is. sufficient to impart thereto at when making the circular seams by whichthese leastone complete revolution, when it is pulled sectionsare joined to one another. from the work by being wound about the reel 16 The present day practice. for field. welding secupon the rotation of this reel through the agency 5 tions of pipe together is to. place several secof its driving motor 19. ,.A strut 2.4, one end of tions end to end on pipe supports or rollers which which is attached to the carriage l0 and the other are commonly called dollies, tack weld the end of whichis adapted to engage th'ework dijoints between these sections and then have one t y 0r i d e y u the turns D man slowly rotate, this assembly while another 22, as illustrated, isprovided for transmitting the 10 man makes the circular welds by which the secreaction of the. reeling mechanism directly to the tions are joined together. This enables the welds W This Strut o prises members 25 and 26 to be made in the down direction. It has certain nn d by a urn bu kl y me ns of which objections however, the principal one of which the l t f t St m y b just d- The end is that it is not always possible to obtain complete 27 member 25118 eupperted n he. s aftl'l 15- harmony and synchronism between the two opupon which reel 16 isalso located and is forked t to accommodate the location ofthe reel inter-1 'It 15311 object, of my invention toprovjde apmediate its branches. The member 26 terminates paratus for. automatically rotating at a substarn, in a yoke 28,the ends of which are Drovidedwith 2otially uniform .rate of speed work parts such. as rollers 29 i h are ap d t n e t e .w rk

a plurality of lengthsof pipe that have been directly or indirectly through the ropev 22 as iljoined to one another at their ends by tack welds. lustre/ted in the drawing- Further objects of my invention will become With the Parts ed as illustrated in the apparent from a consideration of the following drawing the p t o of motor'19 rotates the description of the embodiments illustrated in the reel 6 111a direction to P p 22 from P p 1 25 attached drawing, Figs. 1 and 2 of which illus-. about which it is w p d d in so d ing m-r trate a side view partly in section and a plan view Darts tary motion to this p p a d t the of one embodiment thereof, and Fig. 3 of which Pipes 11 and Connected t to by tackwelds shows anqther embodiment thereofl I 15. The Stlllt 24 located between the work and l In Figs. 1 and'Zthe apparatus for rotating th the'pulling means supported on the carriage 10 30 work is supported on a truck or carriage 10 located takes care of the reaction of the 101111 of the p to one side of the work which, in this instance; and t reeling in f the p at s the p p comprises a plurality of pipe sections 11, 12 and Sections. at a uniferm Speed depending 13. The ends of these pipe sections are supported upon the Speed o Operation of t motor 19 i h.

on dollies 14 or other suitable means for rotation is adjusted to e o d t t Speed of e i 35- about their longitudinal axes. The ends of each t P c o are rotated the C u ar seams section are joined to .theends of adjacent secbetween their end n 'e f se ve y pretionsby tack welds 15, so that the several sections Sented to We1derS who are thus enabled to make may be rotated in unison. I the Welds between the parts under the most ad- The rotating apparatus comprises areel 16 vantageous and favorable d t e, 40 supported on and attached to a shaftll'l which In Fig! 3 0f the aw n I have illustrated a is mounted in pedestals is resting upon the platmodification of my invention in which a chain form of the carriage 10; The reel 16 is rotated drive isemp o for rotating e Wo k. In the by an electric motor 19 though a transmission arrangement there illustrated a split sprocket comprising reduction gearing 20, a chain drive ring 30 is app t h pip 3 and connected 45 21 and the shaft 17 upon which the reel is 10-, by a chain 32 to a driving Sprocket ,3. Thedriw cated. The reel 16 vis connected to the work by ing sprocketis supportedon a; shaft 34 mounted a rope 22part of whichis wound about the reel 16 in pedestals 35 which are suitably supported on and part of which is wound about the work. a carriage orlike means as illustrated in Figs.

It may be desirable to attach the free end 23 of 1' and 2. The parts of the sprocket ring 30 are 50 the rope to the" surface of the work by a clamp connected by a link 36 by means of which they 23 in order to hold the rope in driving engageare held in firm engagement with the work 31. ment with the periphery thereof. The .clamp il- A rubber strip 37 or a strip of similar material lustrated comprisesa strip of metal one end of may be interposed betweenthe sprocket ring and whiohis tack welded to thesurface of the pipe. .thework in order to securea positive driving 55 engagement between these parts. The sprocket ring illustrated is provided with a track on each side of the projections thereof upon which rest grooved rollers 38 supported in the ends of yoke 39 forming the work engaging end or shoe of an adjustable strut 40 having a construction similar to that of the strut 24 described above in connection with Figs. 1 and 2. As in Figs. 1 and 2 the shaft, 34 is connected to a, suitable motor by means of which an adjustable and uniform rotation may be imparted thereto. The rotation of shaft 34.- rotates the driving sprocket 33 which transmits rotation to the sprocket 30 on the work part 31 through the agency of chain 32. The strut 40, one end of which'is attached to the supporting means for driving sprocket'33 and the other end of which engages the sprocket ring, properly spaces the parts and transmits the reaction of the pull of the chain directly to the work. 7

Instead of the rope-and chain drive illustrated and described above, other flexible means adapted to make a driving'engagement with the periphery of the work may be employed. Furthermore, in-

stead of using a turnbuckle to extend the work engaging portion of the strut into engagement with the work, other means may be employed such as a cylinder and fluid operated piston arrangement. It is also to be understood that other pulling means than the reel and sprocket illustrated and described above may be used without departing from my invention.

Apparatus in accordance with my invention is adapted not only for rotating bodies about a horizontal axis, but may also be employed for rotating vertically disposed objects such as barrels. The apparatus illustrated and describedin Figs. 1 and 2, for example, may be adapted for this purpose simply by providing a turntable upon which to support thebarrel and by twisting the member 26 of the strut 24 through 90 in order to accommodate the new location of the work part rela-' tive thereto.

It is preferable to arrange the parts of apparatus embodying my invention so that the strut engages the work directly at that portion thereof to which the flexible means is applied. It is not necessary, however, that the strut engage the flexible means located about the work as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 although in most instances this arrangement will be preferred since it holds the flexible means firmly in driving engagement with the work and prevents slippage. The work engaging shoe of the strut may straddle the flexible means as in the arrangement of Fig. 3, or it may engage the work to one side of the flexible and described above since other means may be which have been used solely for the purpose of disclosing my invention. I seek, therefore, to cover in the appended claims all those modifica- 1,992,s1e r tions which fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:-

1. Apparatus for rotating work comprising work supporting means, flexible means adapted to make a driving engagement with the periphery of the work, means for pulling said flexible means from the work to which it has been applied, means for transmitting the reaction of said pulling means directly to that portion of the work to which said flexible means is applied and means independent of the work supporting means for supporting said pulling means and said reaction transmitting means.

2. Apparatus for rotating work comprising work supporting means, a flexible element adapted to make a driving engagement with the work, means for pulling said flexible element from the work to which it has been applied, a strut between said pulling means and said work and means independent of the work supporting means for supporting said pulling means and said strut, one end of said strut being attached to said pulling means and the other end thereof being provided with a yoke adapted to engage the work.

3. Apparatus for rotating work comprising work supporting means, a flexible element adapted to make a driving engagement with the work, means for pulling said flexible element from the work to which it has been applied, a strut attached to said pulling means, means for extending the work engaging end of said strut into engagement with the work and means independent of the work supporting means for supporting said pulling means and said strut.

4. Apparatus for rotating work comprising work supporting means, a flexible element adapted to make a driving engagement with the work, means for pulling said flexible element from the work to which it has been applied, an adjustable strut one end of which is attached to said pulling means and the other end of which is provided with a shoe adapted to engage the work and means independent of the work supporting means for supporting said pulling'means and said strut.

5. Apparatus for rotating work supported independently thereof comprising a sprocket ring, having a track adjacent the projections thereon, means for attaching said sprocket to the work, a driving sprocket, a support for said driving sprocket, means for rotating said driving sprocket at a predetermined rate of speed, a chain extending between said sprockets, and a strut one end of which is attached to said support and the other end of which is provided with a shoe engaging the track on said sprocket ring.

6. Apparatus for rotating pipes supported independently thereof comprising a'sprocketring, means for attaching said sprocket ring to the surface of a pipe, a driving sprocket, means for rotating said driving sprocket, a support for said driving sprocket, a chain extending about said sprockets, and a strut one end of which is attached to the said support and the other endof which is adapted to engage said sprocket ring.

'7. Apparatus for rotating work comprising work supporting means, a flexible element adapted to make a driving engagement with the work, a reel about which a part of said flexible element is wrapped, means for rotating said reel at asubstantially uniform rate of speed, means independent of the work supporting means for sup-' porting said reel, and a strut attached to said supporting means between said reel and the work with work supported on said work supporting means, and means extending from said motor supporting means and reacting against the work for holding said motor means and the work in adjusted relationship against the reaction of said 5 last-mentioned means.

VERNI J. CHAPMAN.

CER'MHGATE 0i QORRECTKON. Patent Na. 1,992,812. Febmary 26, E935.

VERNE j. KIHAPMAN.

M is iwmby csfiiiied mm @rrm' apgma'rs in "ma minted spacification oi the above numbered 553 mm mquiriag CQfifi-MiOfi as ieilews: Page 2, first mhzmm, line 2%., in? "dzive" reasi @rives; am? Mme 62, for "bass" read hfiSGS; same page, mm miumn, Hines 21., 22 23, claim 2, strike mat the WGidS "and means ind apenfiant M the Wmi; supporting Ker suppmarting said pulling means and sas'a swat" and insert the same miter "wmk" 15m: '26, 01? said claim; and that {he amid Letters Patent Shams? Em mad with these wrr ec'iions tharein that the same may ccwnimm to the mam: 0? the case in we Patent (mice.

Signed and seaked this 16th day M April, A. D. 1935.

Leslie Frazer (Se-(1%) Acting 'Gammissimaer 0% Patents. 

